Army Reporter information
for A/3/17 CAV
9 INF DIV
For date 690120
A/3/17 CAV was a US Army unit
9 INF DIV was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
South Vietnam
Location, Saigon
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "Aviators blast VC, find TNT" dated 20 Jan 1969.
During a two-day action eight miles southwest of here, scout helicopters and gunships from A/3/17th Air Cav blasted VC elements and discovered a vast ammunition cache. Alerted to enemy activity in the area, the gunships thundered a salvo of rockets and mini-gun fire on the VC troops, killing 14. Cobra teams and artillery kept the pressure up during the night, forcing the VC unit to split into small groups in an attempt to escape. The following morning found the A Troop scout teams relentlessly pursuing the enemy. LT William C. Fox, flying an OH-6A observation helicopter, spotted several trails converging on a bunker complex. Continuing his reconnaissance. Fox discovered an extensive ammunition cache. Infantrymen of the 2/60th Inf, 9th Inf Div, were inserted into the area to recover the cache. During the insertions, a scout team from the battalion killed two more VC in the area. Part of the huge cache consisted of 193 pounds of TNT, 382 80mm mortar rounds, 43 73mm and 57mm recoilless rifle rounds, 60 RPG2 rounds, 21,000 AK-47 rounds, and 28 mines. A Troop Hueys spent the rest of the day hauling out the huge cache of ammunition which would never see the weapons for which it was intended.
Comments: LT Fox, William C.; LOH Pilot; ;
The source for this information was 6901AR.AVN supplied by Les Hines
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023